About | Tour2012

Our directors are all outstanding musicians who donate their time to help ensure the vitality, longevity, and financial stability of the Granite Sr. Youth Symphony Orchestra.

DR. JIM THOMPSON

Jim Thompson is in his 30th year of teaching instrumental music in Utah’s public schools, as well as being one of the conductors of the Granite Youth Symphony. Additionally, Jim has been a conductor of the Jordan Symphony Orchestra, another public-school sponsored youth orchestra, for the past 21 years. Jim conducts and plays bass in several community symphonies and in three different performing groups of the 23rd Army Band of the Utah National Guard.

GARY 'DOC' JENSEN

Gary Jensen, conductor and co-chair, has been a music educator for 40 years, and has taught Instrumental Music at Taylorsville High School for the last 28. He has both Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees in Music Education. He has been associated with the Granite Youth Symphony Orchestra since 2000 as an assistant conductor, and has served as Co-chairman of the orchestra since 2010.

AMBER TUCKNESS

Amber Tuckness is the currently the Instrumental Music Director of Cottonwood High School and also conductor and co-chair of the Granite Youth Symphony Orchestra. She has taught in high school for 15 years and privately for 20 years. Outside of school she is a freelance professional French Horn player in Utah.

MEET THE DIRECTORS

ABOUT THE ORCHESTRA

The Granite Youth Symphony Orchestra, sponsored by the Granite School District in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a unique organization made up of student musicians selected by audition from the district’s eight high schools. The orchestra was organized in 1957 for the primary purpose of providing for its outstanding secondary music students the challenge of a greater opportunity for musical growth and accomplishment, to inspire and lead their classmates to greater musicianship and enjoyment through membership in their own school orchestras and bands, and to represent Granite School District in various civic and cultural functions while also stimulating community interest in music education.

Many of the participating students study regularly with members of the world famous Utah Symphony Orchestra, and most perform as soloists and as members of small ensembles The group tours each summer, traveling to not only many cities in the west, but also to such places as Washington D.C. to perform in the Kennedy Center, New York City to perform in Carnegie Hall, and to Florida to perform at the International Society of Music Educators’ Convention in Tampa.